Some lessons OnePlus can take from sibling OPPO's stellar smartphones

OnePlus has come a long way from being a midrange-premium player to a premium brand. But it still has certain weaknesses that do not let it deliver a comprehensive smartphone experience

Until it decided to expand its product portfolio a few years ago, Chinese electronics maker BBK Electronics was parent to two successful smartphone brands — OPPO and Vivo. And then, in December 2013, Pete Lau and Carl Pie, both employees of OPPO, set up a third smartphone company under the wider BBK umbrella. This was called OnePlus. While the youngest of the trio always chose to call itself an independent company, a hint of its siblings’ influence on its smartphones was not imperceptible. Calling it a mere rebranding, though, would be a mistake. OnePlus, indeed, has been an independent story